[CREATE] Putting some reasons behind a Libre Graphics Magazine (in that traditional format, a manifesto)

ginger coons ginger at adaptstudio.ca
Thu Aug 26 08:31:52 PDT 2010


We, the undersigned believe that a Libre Graphics Magazine is long overdue.
In a market dominated by magazines devoted to design discourse built around
proprietary tools and the latest computer graphics tricks and techniques,
users of Libre Graphics software are underserved and unrecognized. We know
that these users exist, both professionally and as hobbyists. We know this
because we are they. We are graphic designers, media artists, photographers
and web designers. We use Libre Graphics software, quietly and without
regard. Our peers, used to proprietary alternatives, question our choice of
tools. Our work, when executed well, is indistinguishable from work produced
by more traditional means. Thus, our choices are invisible, unless we make
an issue of them.

This is one purpose of a Libre Graphics Magazine: to serve as a catalyst for
discussion, to build a home for the users of Libre Graphics software,
standards and methods. In such a magazine, we may unite all our previously
disparate successes, all the successes which have, until now, stood alone as
small examples, disjointed from the larger community. We have the
opportunity to elevate the discourse around Libre Graphics as a
professionally viable option, to raise previously unmentioned issues and to
push forward the conception of just what Libre Graphics can produce.

Libre Graphics, as far as the eyes of the world are concerned, is already a
niche within a niche. While we in the community may take our identity for
granted, many potential users are hampered by a lack of understanding of
what Open means, what the difference is between Free and free, and why the
word Libre should have any significance outside of French. To those who
don't yet grasp these concepts, Libre Graphics is a further abstraction.
With no basis for understanding, how can we communicate the richness and
diversity that we represent? We are a community made up of niches within
niches within niches. An understanding of those fractal niches can, however,
be gained through concrete examples of achievement and discourse. By
building up a forum for understandable discussion and display, we make
ourselves visible and real.

We aim to facilitate this nascent discussion in two formats: a print
magazine and an affiliated web edition. A print edition is necessary for
both its immediacy and its lasting power. A magazine, acquired at an event,
may be read immediately, without the intermediary step of punching a URL
into a browser. It may be read on the way home, left on the subway, kept in
pride of place on a coffee table or pored over with a friend. A magazine may
be archived for future reference, itself a discrete unit in a continuity of
growing knowledge. It may become dog eared from use and choice articles or
illustrations may be clipped out. A web edition is necessary for sustaining
a sense of community from issue to issue. It may house active discussion,
items not immediately conducive to print, or any number of other medium
specific features. The two editions should, however, work together to form a
cohesive whole, each half accessible on its own, but better together.

We're reflecting a nascent, new community: the Libre Graphics user
community, which hasn't been anything until now. Equilibrium must be found
between what exists -- the vibrant developer community -- and what doesn't
yet, but so easily could -- an equally vibrant and articulate user
community. We do not intend to reinvent the wheel, simply to attach a
bicycle. With such a usable, accessible bicycle, attached to the power of
the existing Libre Graphics community and infrastructure, we may just give
users, existing and new, the opportunity to get on and take a spin.

Ana Carvalho
ginger coons
Ricardo Lafuente
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